Producing Tone With the Mouthpiece

[Lex Grantham]

I came upon this description telling how to produce tones on a trumpet mouthpiece:

"The low tones are produced by relaxing the lips and sending the column of air against the lower part of the cup.

The medium tones or middle register are produced by slightly tensing the lips and directing the air straight through the hole at the bottom of the cup.

The upper tones are secured by throwing the column of air higher into the mouthpiece. This tenses the upper lip and produces more vibration than for the middle tones. The higher the tone desired the higher the air must be directed into the mouthpiece.

For the extreme high tones the column of air must strike near the upper part of the cup - nearly at the rim.This further tenses the muscles of the upper lip and produces more rapid vibrations."

As you play, do you conscientiously attempt to do these maneuvers for the various registers?

Sincerely,

Lex Grantham

[Quadruple C]

[ This Message was edited by: Quadruple C on 2003-11-21 12:08 ]

[walter]

[ This Message was edited by: walter on 2002-09-20 06:59 ]

[Mark Heuer]

Quadruple C wrote:

"Make sure that as you are ascending the lips contract toward the center of the mouthpiece and likewise when descending make sure the lips are gradually moving away from the center of the mouthpiece".

Quadruple C,

Is this a Superchops technique, or a universal principle applicable to all styles of play?

Mark

[Quadruple C]

[ This Message was edited by: Quadruple C on 2003-11-21 12:08 ]

[dbacon]

DB

[pedaltonekid]

I am not a super chops advocate by any means, but the concept of "gripping the air" really helps me. When I am playing in an ensemble or for performance I do not consciously focus on this. However when I practice flexibility routines I focus a great deal on tongue position and gripping the air. I find the Irons 27 Groups of Exercises to be of great benefit.

This analogy will sound crude, but gripping the air can be envisioned as squeezing the air stream uniformly (kind of like the sphincter). When I play properly I know that I am doing this naturally. When I practice I work on this and if I feel my playing out of balance during performance, I will reset my embouchere to attain this sensation. Hope this helps.

[Mark Heuer]

Quadruple C wrote:

"...as you are ascending the lips contract toward the center of the mouthpiece..."

Quadruple C,

Is this another way of decribing "lip compression"?

Mark

[Quadruple C]

[ This Message was edited by: Quadruple C on 2003-11-21 12:09 ]

[Quadruple C]

[ This Message was edited by: Quadruple C on 2003-11-21 12:09 ]